1. [from Virtual Address eXtension] The most successful minicomputer
design in industry history, possibly excepting its immediate
ancestor, the {PDP-11}. Between its release in 1978 and its eclipse
by {killer micro}s after about 1986, the VAX was probably the
hacker's favorite machine of them all, esp. after the 1982 release of
4.2 BSD Unix (see {BSD}). Especially noted for its large,
assembler-programmer-friendly instruction set -- an asset that became
a liability after the RISC revolution.
It is worth noting that the standard plural of VAX was `vaxen' and
that VAX system operators were sometimes referred to as `vaxherds'
2. A major brand of vacuum cleaner in Britain. Cited here because its
sales pitch, "Nothing sucks like a VAX!" became a sort of battle-cry
of RISC partisans. It is even sometimes claimed that DEC actually
entered a cross-licensing deal with the vacuum-Vax people that
allowed them to market VAX computers in the U.K. in return for not
challenging the vacuum cleaner trademark in the U.S.
A rival brand actually pioneered the slogan: its original form was
"Nothing sucks like Electrolux". It has apparently become a classic
example (used in advertising textbooks) of the perils of not knowing
the local idiom. But in 1996, the press manager of Electrolux AB,
while confirming that the company used this slogan in the late 1960s,
also tells us that their marketing people were fully aware of the
possible double entendre and intended it to gain attention.
And gain attention it did -- the VAX-vacuum-cleaner people thought
the slogan a sufficiently good idea to copy it. Several British
hackers report that VAX's promotions used it in 1986--1987, and we
have one report from a New Zealander that the infamous slogan
surfaced there in TV ads for the product in 1992.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {BSD}{DEC}{flat}{FUBAR}{Internet}{little-endian}{Mars}{moby}{mumble}{orthogonal}{PDP-10}{PDP-11}{scratch monkey}{silo}{T}{timesharing}{TWENEX}{vaxocentrism}{VMS}]